An Unholy Alliance

by Braswell, Michael C.

• ISBN13: 9780865549562
• ISBN10: 0865549567
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-30
• Publisher: Mercer Univ Pr

Author Biography

Michael C. Braswell is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at East Tennessee State University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Foreword	xviii
Joseph L. Price
Sports and Religion: Peanut Butter and Jelly or Oil and Water?	1	(15)
What's in a Name? Working Definitions of Sports and Religion	16	(12)
The Sacred and the Holy: Distinguishing the Indefinable	28	(28)
Wisdom and Strength: Two Faces of the Holy	56	(22)
The Religion of Sports and the Media: Marshall McLuhan among the Apologists	78	(25)
The Cross in the Coliseum: Sacred Ground and Battle Ground	103	(21)
Religion, Sports, and War: The Conflicted History of the Knight and the Shepherd	124	(29)
The Religion of Sports and That Old-time Religion: In the Steps of Mircea Eliade	153	(26)
Varieties of Mystical Experiences: Old and New	179	(33)
The Holy and the ``Flow'': Ultimacy Versus Intimacy	212	(27)
Ethics, Values, and Excellence: Testing the Spirits	239	(34)
The Statue of Zeus and Creation of Adam Athletic Art as Sacred and Holy	273	(28)
Humor and the Eternal Triangle: Mind, Sports, and Religion	301	(36)
The High Seriousness of the Religion of Sports: A Return to Polytheism?	337	(30)
Apotheosis Versus Atonement	367	(20)
Epilogue	387	(2)
Appendix 1: Religious Dichotomies	389	(3)
Appendix 2: Textual Notes on Comparative Theology	392	(3)
Index	395